


A New Beginning Or Three

by HayamaRei



Series: Immortal Raywood AU [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: But here it is, Fake AH Crew, Immortal Fake AH Crew, Light Angst, M/M, Trans Jack Pattillo, heart to heart, the sequel that I didn't know was going to happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2021-01-01 20:41:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21149195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HayamaRei/pseuds/HayamaRei
Summary: “What do you want to do?” Ryan had asked because he hadn’t known what else to say.“Leave.” Ray breathed out.----JemDragons commented: And then Ray left. I wonder how Ryan would feel after that in this au.And I had to write it.





	A New Beginning Or Three

**Author's Note:**

> So... Who knew I'd be writing a sequel to this, huh?  
Not me.   
But still here it is and I hope you guys will like it. 
> 
> Thank you to [JemDragons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemDragons/pseuds/JemDragons) for putting the idea in my head!

A lot of things change in the span of a century. The world, for one. But so do people, if they’re lucky to live that long. One grows in a century, learns new things, forgets old ones, meets new people. And sometimes those people happen to be similar in ways more than one. 

Ray and Ryan had found Geoff Ramsey and his crew of immortals at the start of the new millenia and for the first time since before they died they’d felt like they belonged to something bigger than just the two of them. Running around with a crew, hitting bigger and bolder targets, establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with had been exhilarating and had sparked something even brighter between the duo. It had made their bond even stronger. Or so Ryan had thought. 

“I can’t do this anymore.” Ray had said on a quiet night after one of their smaller hits as the two had been laying in bed. 

“Do what?” 

Ray had been silent for a long minute before heaving a deep sigh. “This. The crew. What we’re doing now. It just feels like I’m boxed in.” 

Ray had been like that since they first died. The days in his coffin had triggered his claustrophobia pretty bad. That’s why Ryan never got a car and stuck to motorcycles. It’s why they’d only bought open plan apartments too and why Ray preferred rooftop observation to engaging closely in their heists. They were making it work. 

“What do you want to do?” Ryan had asked because he hadn’t known what else to say.

“Leave.” Ray breathed out.

A simple answer. So simple that twenty years ago Ryan would have just stood up and started packing without a question. But people change. Ryan liked being with the crew now. 

“But… They’re like our family.” He’d said instead. 

“_We_ are our family, Ryan.” Ray had sat up, his frown made deeper by the dim light from the night light. 

“Yes, of course, you’re right.” Ryan had hurried to assure, taking Ray’s hand in his. “I’m sorry. But look, we can’t just… We can’t just dash. We owe them that much. How about we take a vacation instead? Just the two of us. We can go wherever, do whatever. And if in the end you still feel like this I’ll personally sign our resignation letters.”

Another long pause later Ray had let out one more sigh and nodded. “Alright.” 

They’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms. The next morning Ray had disappeared. 

\------ 

“I’m not leaving I just need some time alone!” Ryan snaps without meaning to but he’s too worked up to feel bad about it. “I’ll be back when I’m ready!” 

He can see the worry in Jack’s eyes as she puts a hand on Geoff’s shoulder to keep him from snapping back. “Ryan, we understand. And you do what you need to do. But what Geoff is trying to say is that we’re here for you. If… When you need us.” 

Ryan doesn’t need them, he thinks but he knows it’s a lie. If he didn’t need them he would’ve left with Ray. God, he wishes he didn’t need them though. 

“I know.” He says instead and wants to thank Jack but he doesn’t. 

He’s almost at the door when Geoff calls after him, a lot calmer this time. “Hey Ryan? When you find him, tell Ray I’m sorry he didn’t feel like he could come talk to me about it, yeah?” 

Ryan’s heart drops. He knows it’s not Geoff’s fault Ray left without saying anything. Still, he nods. “I will.” 

\-------

It takes Ryan two days to reach the small graveyard. It’s not in use anymore, its doors rusted and creaky and the grass not as lush and green as it used to be. Still, it’s not abandoned, even if not as much effort goes into keeping it up anymore. 

It’s dusk when Ryan enters, the shadows of the trees surrounding the park are long and make seeing a little difficult but that’s okay. Ryan can walk this path with his eyes closed. 

The two gravestones are white marble and quite simple but they make Ryan’s lungs close up a little anyway. They’d bought them a little after crawling out of their graves, some sentimentality or something. Maybe they liked the irony. Maybe they didn’t really know why they’d bought them at all. 

James Haywood and Ray Narvaez. “Death Is...” “...Just The Beginning” the stones said and they’d laughed about it later. They had been featured on an urban exploration site a few years back. The poster wondering about the tragic story behind the meaning. Ray had loved it so much he’d printed the article out. It still hangs in their apartment. 

Now in all honesty Ryan doesn’t know why he went back to the graveyard. It’s the place where everything was supposed to end for them, and also the place where everything started too. Maybe if things are ending again there would be poetry in it happening there. He doesn’t know how to end it. He doesn’t want to end it at all. 

He sits on the grass and stares at their names. This close he can feel the dirt back inside his lungs and the splinters in his knuckles. His muscles ache with the phantom strain he’d put on them digging Ray out on the hope he’d be alive. He’d been ready to do everything for Ray back then. 

He still is. 

Or is he?

“They say all roads lead to Rome and yet here we are.” Ray’s voice from behind him almost makes Ryan jump out of his skin.

He comes out from between the trees, hands shoved in his pockets and he walks too casually for Ryan to believe it. He knows how the other looks when he’s nervous. 

“I don’t think there is a road that can take us to Rome from here.” 

Ray snorts and plops down on the ground next to him. 

“You came.” Ray says, eyes fixed on the gravestones.

Ryan nods and looks at him instead. “You left.”

Ray nods as well. “You were going to leave with me.” 

“Of course I was-”

“But you didn’t want that.” Ray interrupts and finally looks at him and damn it Ryan wishes they had a light source so he could read what is going on behind Ray’s eyes. 

“I would always choose you.” He insists. 

Ray smiles at that. “I know. And that’s why I’m not letting you choose this time. For now your place is with the crew, and that’s okay.” 

“My place is where you are.” Ryan’s heart feels heavy enough to sink back into the dirt it crawled out of.

Ray humms. “That’s also true. And same goes for me, and that’s why this isn’t a break up. Call me selfish but I’m not planning on giving you up for the foreseeable future. We’ll just have to make it work.” He pulls a burner phone from his pocket and hands it to Ryan. “Here. I’m always going to pick up.” 

Ryan stares at the phone. “You knew I was going to come.” 

“Not a doubt about it.” Ray flashes his biggest grin. “And one day, when you’re ready I know you’ll come back again.” He takes Ryan’s hand, his thumb brushing over the silver band on his ring finger and finally Ryan lets out a breath he’d been holding since waking up to an empty bed. 

And just like that for a minute they’re a hundred years in the past, sitting on top of their graves, holding hands in the face of a new beginning, the great unknown stretching out before them but they know they’ll be okay. They have each other.


End file.
